Substrate processing can require a substrate to be temporarily coupled to a carrier substrate. For example, such temporary coupling may be necessary to support the substrate during processing, such as when material is removed from the substrate by mechanical means such as grinding, for example.
Unfortunately, conventional bonding and de-bonding methods have several limitations. For example, some conventional methods can require specialized bonding material and debonding tools that are available only from limited sources. In some cases, the conditions, e.g., heat or pressure that must be applied to debond are not easily integrated with other processing applied to the substrate and may cause cracks or induce stress in the device substrate. In some cases, specialized carrier substrates are required.
Unfortunately, these conventional methods may add to the cost of substrate processing due to need for specialized bonding materials, carrier substrates, and/or expensive de-bonding equipment, and low throughput that may result from these specialized materials and/or equipment.
Thus, improved methods of processing a device substrate are provided herein.